Pioneer Woman at Heart

If you are wondering what I'm go ing to use my home canned applesauce for, here is one recipe I ma ke wit h it.

I have been waiting for NaNoWriMo for a while now .  Yay!  It starts tomorro w and ends at mid night the last day of November.   If you are a writer, go to their site, and sign u p to write a novel (50,000 wor ds or more) in 30 days. It's fun.  It's spontane ous.  It holds me account able.   It keeps my mind in tip top shape.  An ything goes. Now go tell every one you are going to be writing a novel next mont h.  I am.  

Sunday we officially started to use the wood stove and corn/pellet bu rner.  I t's taking time g etting used to the routine of st acking wood and loading s toves again. Ye ster da y the kids helped me put all of the front porch furniture in t he barn and cover it up.  However, in our hurry, we for got the back p orch furniture.  Hm pf.  That's one of the pieces in the photo, co vered with morning sleet.  It looks like snow, but it's really icy sleet. Yesterday morning I fought the r ain, at getting my laundry dried. I ended up bring ing it in and drying i t on racks in fro nt of the stoves (including the bed she ets). The school had a scheduled 2 hour delay for a teacher work day, but we wou ld have had one anyway.  The slee t continues to come down.  I'm so glad my son helped me re-stock the wood on t he front porch. I hope we get anot her break in the weather soon.  We have much more winter prep to do on the ch icken barn....

I have one re gre t - not getting pictures.  After my 16 year- old daughter helped me shri nk wrap gi ft ba skets for a fundraiser donation, we had a few pieces of b a sket s hrink wrap left over. They girls w ere hi m-hawing at the table later , and I was in t he front room knitting.   "You know what we should do?" one asked the other in the kitchen.  "We should shrink wrap "K's" stuff  before she gets home." (My 13 year-old was o ut shopping with hubby, and would be home to go to a sleepover) " Let's do it," responded the other with a devious eyeball re sponse. (giggling) So they got the hair dry er out, and shrink wrapped their sis ter's ha ir bru sh, flat iron, eye liner, and mascara.   W hen she got home, and looked at her items to pack for the sleepover, she was very confused .   " What happened to my makeup?" she asked me.  (more giggles) "My hairb rush?! " (more g i ggles) "...

I ma k e C innamon Cider Jelly every fall.  I typi cally give this away for gifts versus selling it. Cinnamon Cider Jelly 4 cups apple cider 1 / 2 cup cinnamon im perials (red hot cand ies) 1 box pow dered pecti n (1-3/4 oz) 4 1/2 cups granulated sugar     Add cider, cinnamon candies, and pow dered pecti n to a 6-8 quart stainless steel pan. Heat and stir on high, until it reaches a ro lling bo il. Add sugar, and stir on high until it reaches a rolling boil .  Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and skim.   Pour into steril ized, hot jars,  wipe jars with a clean wet tow el, and add lids and rims.   Place jars into canning pot .  Pro cess for 10 minutes. Remove from cann er and place on towel lined counter/table.  Let sit for 24 hours.  Place any jars that hav e not sealed into the ref rigerator. Yield:  Approximately 7 half pint jars. For Candy Apple Jelly , simply use organic, unsw eeten...

f rom the homesteading journal . . . Days here either mighty cold,  warm , windy, rainy, or all of the above .  Mother nature can't make up her mind.  We took out some of the plants from the garden, unhooked the water hose and put it away, and pulled any plastic that was down for weeds. There is n't too much left to pull.  I treat the goats to the pe pper p lan ts and the must ard greens. Every day now, I sweep the patio (s) and gather the leaves.  They go directly on the garden this year. I emptied the de hydrator once more (with green pep pers) and filled it back up.  I have more peppers to dry , but the garden is done prod uci ng now (other than sugar snap peas, mus tard greens and more lettuce).   ...canned more organic applesauce and two batches of Cinnamon-Cider Jelly. ...s prout ing mung beans in a canning jar for us , and to see if the chickens wil l like them . from the handicraft journal ....

It's been stressful the last fe w weeks.  Sorry for the lack of postings.  When there is nothing good to post about, I don't feel like posting anything. When I am stressed bey ond beli ef, when I can't th ink with out my head pounding .....I think of the way my Dad would handle it - Tea Time in Ta nganyika .   He was (a nd is) always good and stayin g ca lm in a ny situation that involves chaos , strife, the devil trying to tear my family apart, and so forth. Than ks for hanging on and following.  I hope to have a more interest ing updat e soon. In the meantime, here is another key chain of min e.  It's a mini pink boxing glove.  The color is faded, as it used to ha n g out in th e open.  The last time I counted my collection, I had over 400.  Wo w zers is right.... The weather is warm today, the birds are singing, and the windows are open.  I' m d rowning out the engines of b ulldozers working down the roa d, using ja...

Wa xed paper - $1.00 (65 S q. f eet) .  Made in the USA.  If you bake , e specially over the holidays, th is is a great pr ice too.  If you have kids, it comes in handy for craft projects.  This sells for $ 1.29 at Menards.   I found this waxed paper at a store called The Dol lar Tree .

  (Soon to be on my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot) I have a another collection that I started collecting around 1981 (best that I can remember) - key chains. Despite living a more self-sufficient lifestyle, k ey chains are still an inspiration for me.  I try to buy one from every place I visit.  Some of them were also gifted to me.  Some I mak e myself. This one I made recycling an empty pill bo ttle.  I'll try to get the directions writ ten on my S.C.R.A.P. blog soon.  I won't be using this keychain, as it contains shells from the last island trip with hubby.  It's more of a "memory" k ey chain. I wonder if the Pioneers collecting anything?  Possibly marbles, dolls or buttons?  Our world today in America is "more."  Everything is in abundance.  I do have plans to display my collection.  The "where" and " when" hasn't been decided on yet.

  ( Sky above a few of our old barns) Yesterday the weat her started o ut with a nasty downpo ur.   Although t here wasn't any t hunder, our youngest dog still had an xiety.   We've ordered him a Thundershirt, and it's on the w ay.  It's a jacket th at applies pressure to naturally ca lm the dog , when they have a fear of noi ses (thunder, fireworks etc.). He wa sn't born like this, he was out on a walk during a very bad storm, and it thundered loudly.  Ever since then, he's been horrible afr aid of the noise. I'll update you on the progress of the jacket, as it is natural, and requires no pills.  We first heard about it from the woman who sells homemade pet treats at the Farmer's Ma r ket. The rain kept me from doing any outside work y esterday.  However, by the afternoon , it cl eared up.  By th at time, I was already deep in another project.  Funny how that work s some days.    

I too k thi s photo whe n I was lucky enough to be with hubby, and he was d riving.  I had my camera too.  There have been so many barns that have been torn down, when I wished I would have stopped to photogr aph them.  I hope to take more photos.

Here is anothe r one of my fun pens.  This one lights up in the bot tom, and flashes different colors when I write.  I can also turn of the lig ht. Hu bby and I went to a choi r concert last night.  T w o of the girls were in it.  However, th is morning they are g rouchy.  Any time they have an event on a school night, it wears them out. I'm not sure what's on today's agenda today, other than cleani n g up th e mess the kids left in the kitchen, and laundry. Yester day I filled the dehydrator with more green peppers and one tray of jalapeno peppers.  I stocked up the dried ones and ground the cayen ne to a pow der.  Next on the list i s maki ng my own onion pow der.  I' ll have to wait unti l next season to make my garlic pow der ( un less I can find USA grown garlic here).  I re-planted my remaining garlic. I also made a batch of breakfast burrito filler , using up more green peppers and onions.  I still have more in my g...

As p romis ed, here some thr ift store finds I found recently.  I set out in search for a nice pair of dress pants for one of the girls.  We d id f ind a pair for $1.00. I found the hot iron transfers for $.50....  A seat cover for my desk chair - $3.00.  These sell for $12.00-14.00 each in stores.  Even Big Lots.  It di dn't t ake Ti ger long to find it.  A vintage hankie for $.50....  And this vintage recipe bin der, complete with tab divi ders and extra paper - $1.00.  I really d idn't need to buy this, but after reading about avo cado g reen and harvest gold, at Pat's blog Corn in my Coffee Pot , I just had to b uy th e thing.  I t was just screaming "buy me, buy me ." I' ll be locked up inside, ni ce and tight tod ay.  The farmer is taking o ut all the corn c r ops that surround our property.  There won't be any laundry on my line today either , as this stirs up dust, allergens, and a mass of t ee...

I had a n ice blog post all ready, but noti ced I was typing it up on my S.C.R.A.P. blogspot .  Whe n I t ried to copy and past e it here  - po of!  It was gone.  So here's this m orning's ramble.... ~ all the goats were loose this morning, my daughter forgot to la tch a door.  All are safe ly back in their pen. ~had to call the sheriff to remove an aband o ned vehicle that was left , with the end of it s ticking ou t in the highway tra ffic . ~c r ock-pots and Monday 's are synonymous here, and I already have beans cooking for dinner.   ~it's cleaning day, but after finish ing one bathroom , the mop broke. ~ the dehydrat or is working overtime with green peppers again. ~ this weather is playing havoc on my allergies again - itchy and watery eyes.  I'm still drin king the elderberry immunity tea. ~mana ged to created a fun Christmas tree ornament - check it out on my S.C. R.A.P blogspot. ~I made a trip to the thrift store ove r th...